LGA responds to Crisis report on sofa surfing

“Behind every instance of homelessness, including those who are forced to ‘sofa surf’, lies an individual tragedy and councils want to work with the new government to prevent this from happening in the first place and support those affected.

“Councils are doing all they can to tackle homelessness but the new government can help to address this by adapting welfare reforms to protect families at risk of becoming homeless, by restoring Local Housing Allowance rates to cover at least the lowest third of market rents when the current freeze ends in 2020.

“Councils want to work with the new government to see councils get the further powers and funding they need to build desperately needed affordable new homes. This should include urgent reform to the Right to Buy scheme, to enable councils to keep all sales receipts and set discounts locally.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

Housing advisers programme - The LGA’s sector-led improvement offers robust peer challenge and support to help councils improve performance, become more efficient and effective and share good practice. As part of that offer, we provide a Housing Advisers Programme which is designed to support councils seeking to innovate in meeting the housing needs of their communities. In the previous two years of the Housing Advisers Programme, we have funded over 100 councils to help councils build homes, reduce homelessness, plan for population ageing, understand the student housing market, increase supply of modular housing, and more. For more information visit https://www.local.gov.uk/housing-advisers-programm e! -201920-prospectus